St. Louis Tobacco Trial: The players

You can’t tell the players without a program. Here are some of the people who have spent some of the last 12 years preparing for what is expected to be the longest-running trial in the city of St. Louis. The plaintiffs —37 hospitals — want to recoup from tobacco companies the money spent caring for patients with smoking-related illnesses and complications caused by smoking.

The attorneys involved in the case come from seven states — including faraway California and next-door neighbor Illinois. Of course, we didn’t forget the home-state crew.

We developed our player roster from court minutes and the third amended petition in the case, the most current. The biographical information was found on law firm websites and on findlaw.com.

THE JUDGE

Michael P. David

Appointed circuit judge Nov. 12, 1992; served as presiding judge 2003-04

Previous experience: Appointed associate circuit judge March 13, 1989; also served as an assistant public defender in the city of St. Louis and in Jefferson County; as a lawyer in private practice; and as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives

Quotable: “I’m the luckiest man alive; I get to live the Constitution every day!”

The plaintiffs’ lawyers
From lashly & Baer, St. Louis

Kenneth C. Brostron

Practice areas: Education; government & public agencies; health care; litigation; labor and employment

Years practicing: 36

Fun fact: Represented St. Louis Board of Education for 25 years and was the board’s lead counsel in local desegregation lawsuit

Terrance J. Good

Practice areas: Business;
litigation;
personal injury defense; product liability

Years practicing: 34

Fun fact: Vice chairman of the American Bar Association’s Tort & Insurance Practice Section Professional Liability Committee since 1993

Allison Schreiber Lee

Practice areas: Estate planning; family law; litigation; document-intensive multiparty litigation

Years practicing: 14

Fun fact: Teaches pretrial practice and procedure as an adjunct professor at Washington University School of Law

The defendants’ lawyers  •  Altria Group Inc.; Philip Morris USA Inc.

From Dechert, Princeton, N.J.                  From Goodwin Procter, Boston

Diane P. Sullivan

Practice areas: commercial litigation; life sciences/pharmaceutical litigation; mass torts; product liability

Years practicing: 23

Fun fact: Named in Product Liability Law360 as one of 10 most admired product liability defense attorneys

Kenneth J. Parsigian

Practice areas: Complex mass tort; RICO litigation; product safety; import and export procedures

Years practicing: 23

Lead counsel for Philip Morris USA and national coordinating counsel for the tobacco industry for more than 10 years

Fun fact: Headed investigation of former U.S. Attorney Edwin Meese as associate independent counsel in Iran-Contra investigation

Paul E. Nemser

Practice areas: Complex product liability; securities; business and environmental litigation; intellectual property; constitutional litigation; appellate

Years practicing: 31

Fun fact: Wrote “Massachusetts Evidentiary Privileges,” which will be published this summer

Daryl L. Wiesen

Practice areas: Intellectual property litigation; patent; licensing

Years practicing: 14

The defendants’ lawyers  •  Altria Group Inc.; Philip Morris USA Inc.

From Kohn, Shands, Elbert, Gianoulakis & Giljum, St. Louis

Alan C. Kohn

Practice areas: Antitrust, securities, RICO litigation; class action defense; appellate; business litigation; commercial arbitration

Years practicing: 55

Fun fact: Was court-appointed settlement master who mediated 380 dioxin cases filed in the St. Louis Circuit Court

Robert F. Murray

Practice areas: Commercial litigation; health care law; legal malpractice defense, appellate

Years practicing: 17

Fun fact: Has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aeronautical and astronnautical engineering, worked as structures engineer at McDonnell Douglas Corp.

The defendants’ lawyers  •  R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; British American Tobacco (Investments) Ltd. (f/k/a British American Tobacco Co. Ltd.); Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corp.

From Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, Atlanta

R. Dal Burton

Practice areas: Litigation; product liability; complex business; appellate

Years practicing: 30

Fun fact: Has also defended asbestos companies, banks and public companies

Jonathan A. “Jon” Fligg

Practice areas: Product liability; business litigation

Years practicing: 13

Fun fact: Board member of Atlanta Legal Aid Society and Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation

The defendants’ lawyers  •  R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; British American Tobacco (Investments) Ltd. (f/k/a British American Tobacco Co. Ltd.);
Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corp.

From Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, Raleigh, N.C.                                                          From Kirkland & Ellis, Chicago

Marilyn R. Forbes

Practice areas: Product liability litigation; toxic tort; civil litigation

Years practicing: 29

Fun fact: Member of the law firm’s management committee and executive committee; head of its smoking and health team

Kurt D. Weaver

Practice areas: Complex commercial; toxic and mass tort; product liability litigation

Years practicing: 23

Fun fact: Chairman of the Board for the United Way of the Greater Triangle

Andrew R. McGaan

Practice areas: Product liability litigation; class action; mass tort & toxic tort litigation; commercial litigation; restructuring

Years practicing: 24

Fun fact: Was among law firm personnel honored for pro bono work on behalf of a class of 732 foster children who were pregnant or parents and their children

Jay R. Henneberry

Practice areas: Complex product liability; commercial litigation; contract and partnership disputes

Years practicing: 28

Fun fact: Director and secretary for Hollywood HEART, a nonprofit that provides recreational and education opportunities for at-risk youth

David Wallace

Practice areas: litigation; next generation vehicles; product liability

Years practicing: 23

Fun fact: Editor of “In re Products Liability,” the firms’s product liability newsletter

The defendants’ lawyers  •  R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; British American Tobacco (Investments) Ltd. (f/k/a British American Tobacco Co. Ltd.);
Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corp.

From Armstrong Teasdale, St. Louis                                                                                         From Chadbourne & Parke, Los Angeles

Frank N. Gundlach

Practice areas: Commercial litigation; product liability; contract; class action; tort and catastrophic events

Years practicing: 47

Fun fact: Member of committee to nominate magistrate judge in federal court in St. Louis as well as committee to review and recommend changes to local rules of federal court in southern Illinois

Matthew S. Shorey

Practice areas: Product liability; insurance; commercial litigation; construction litigation; class action; tort and catastrophic events

Years practicing: 12

Fun fact: Former law clerk for Judge Lawrence G. Crahan

The defendants’ lawyers  •  Lorillard Inc.; Lorillard Tobacco Co.

From Shook Hardy & Bacon, Kansas City

Karen A. Read

Practice areas: Complex product liability; tobacco; pharmaceutical; appellate briefing

Years practicing: 12

The defendants’ lawyers  •  Lorillard Inc.; Lorillard Tobacco Co.

From Thompson Coburn, St. Louis

Carl L. Rowley

Practice areas: Consumer products; pharmaceutical; product liability; tobacco; toxic tort

Years practicing: 24

Fun fact: Vice chairman of the firms’ tobacco litigation department and partner in its complex and mass litigation practice group

Bruce D. Ryder

Practice areas: Appellate; consumer products; pharmaceutical; product liability; tobacco

Years practicing: 31

Fun fact: Works with trial counsel on preserving issues for appeal

Susan L. Werstak

Practice areas: Consumer products; electronic discovery; tobacco

Years practicing: 13

Fun fact: Came to the firm from Dechert, has represented most major tobacco companies

Booker T. Shaw

Practice areas: Appellate; business litigation; class action; railroad; tobacco

Years practicing: 34

Associate and circuit judge for 19 years; appellate judge for seven years

Fun facts: Was a member of the St. Louis Circuit Court when tobacco case was filed, has taught trial advocacy at Washington University School of Law since 1995

The defendants’ lawyers  •  Liggett Group Inc.; Liggett & Meyers Inc.; Vector Group Ltd.

From Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, New York                                                          From Swanson Midgley, Kansas City

Aaron H. Marks

Practice areas: Litigation; mass tort and product liability; complex commercial; securities/corporate; intellectual property

Years practicing: 16

Fun fact: Was among the firm partners who defended The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the trial over the 1993 World Trade Center bombing

James H. McLarney

Practice areas: Commercial litigation; product liability; sports law; real estate finance; agricultural law; estate planning

Years practicing: 48

Fun fact: Member of Rotary Club 13, Missouri 4-H Foundation and Estate Planning Council of Kansas City

James A. Durbin

Practice areas: Product liability; premises liability; commercial landlord-tenant law; commercial litigation; employment law

Years practicing: 21

Fun fact: Member of the Lee’s Summit Chamber of Commerce

The defendants’ lawyers  •  U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. (f/k/a United States Tobacco Co.)

From Donovan, Rose, Nester & Joley, Belleville, Ill.                                                               From Williams Venker & Sanders, St. Louis

Charle L. Joley

Practice areas: insurance; personal injury; environmental

Years practicing: 26

Thomas L. Orris

Practice areas: Product liability; premises liability; toxic torts; insurance defense; commercial and environmental litigation

Years practicing: 22

Fun fact: Teaches trial practice as an adjunct professor at Saint Louis University